You can get a taste of what it’s like to drive an electric vehicle even if you don’t have the space in your life to charge it. This is because the hybrid system maximises gas mileage by momentarily turning off the engine and operating the hybrid as an EV over limited distances. One of the novel experiences of hybrid ownership is that you can experience this even if you don’t have the space in your life for charging.

Nevertheless, according to the most recent information available from Toyota Motor North The example of the United States helps to highlight the fact that, in order to achieve the highest possible mpg, you should let your hybrid system choose the intervals of electric miles. Owners of Toyota hybrids tend to hold on to their vehicles for a very long period. Even while this is most likely something that proprietors learn over the course of time, it is useful information for those who are just starting off.

2022 Toyota Sienna

The results of a project in which more than 2,000 company-owned Toyota and Lexus automobiles travelled a combined total of more than 483,000 miles during the week of April 19-25, 2023 were disclosed by Toyota the previous month. The project was carried out by employees of Toyota as well as members of their households.

The assignment is to travel either in an environmentally friendly or electrically vehicle-friendly manner on each journey.

The details scientists at Toyota then when compared the baseline everyday-driving facts taken before the project with the final findings in Eco or EV mode and compared the efficiencies of the two driving modes.

According to Toyota, hybrids that are operating in one of those three modes have a 4% reduction in their CO2 emissions and a 4% increase in their miles per gallon. The award was 26% for those who were not hybrids.

EV mode in Toyota Sienna

EV approach and Eco method; just one of them contributes to improved mpg.

Why is there a difference? To be more specific, Toyota hybrids are the only ones with an electric vehicle (EV) mode, although activating the EV mode does not improve fuel economy.

First things first, let’s have a look at what the Eco technique entails. In a nutshell, it boils down to remapping the throttle inputs and maximising the efficiency of the climate management system to save fuel.

For instance, additional information regarding the process can be found in the owner’s manual that Toyota provides for the RAV4 Hybrid. According to what it states, switching to Eco Travel Mode improves your vehicle’s fuel efficiency in two different ways: first, it “makes torque in reaction to accelerator pedal operations more easily” than the usual mode does, and second, it “restrains air conditioning programme operations (heating and cooling).”

2023 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid XSE AWD

According to the encounter that Eco-friendly Automobile Reports has had with a wide variety of test automobiles, which includes nearly all of the hybrids that Toyota and Lexus have to supply, it is a distinction that you most likely will not discover soon after the first few minutes have passed. In most situations, it fosters smoother driving, and you are going to uncover a payoff at the pump if you do so.

In some Toyota hybrids, you could be necessary to choose Eco mode each time you get into the vehicle, however in other models, it will “stick” at vehicle beginning if that is the mode you have been making use of in the past. This is dependent on the kind of Toyota hybrid you have.

And now for the confusing part: the vast majority of Toyota’s hybrids, if not all of them, feature both an Eco mode and an EV mode, with the EV mode serving a very different purpose than the Eco mode does.

2022 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid

What exactly does it mean when the EV mode is engaged in a Toyota hybrid?

The stage that is powering EV mode might sound like it was designed with performance in mind. But Toyota engineers have in the past informed this correspondent that EV mode is not at all supposed for maximising gas economy—and that working with it could possibly result in reduced mileage as the process draws from broad knowledge maps, on the lookout at many parameters (some predictive) to decide when to operate the engine and when to depend only on the electrical motors. This is because the process draws from extensive knowledge maps, on the lookout at many parameters (some predictive).

In a nutshell, Toyota hybrids have already been fine-tuned for efficiency to the point that practically any improvement you make, other than slowing down and smoothing out your driving style and operating in eco mode, is definitely going to result in a decrease in the vehicle’s fuel economy. Also included in this is the application of the EV technique.

“EV method is not particularly made for petrol efficiency,” confirmed Brown. “There is no need to worry about loud noises or exhaust emissions when operating the vehicle in residential driveways or indoor parking lots in the wee hours of the morning or late at night,” says the manufacturer.

EV manner button in 2023 Toyota Prius

When the temperature is particularly high or low, when the car is currently travelling at a high speed, or when add-ons like the windscreen defogger are being used, EV mode may not be allowed. Toyota presents an extensive checklist of conditions in which EV mode may not be allowed in the owner’s guide for the 2023 Toyota Prius. These conditions include: when the temperature is specifically significant or low. According to Toyota, this often enables an electric range of up to 0.6 miles.